On the “European stool” the European Commission sits TikTok.

The Commission launched formal proceedings against the Chinese social media platform after a preliminary investigation into a breach of the bloc’s European legislation on digital services (Digital Services Act).

According to a statement from the Commission, TikTok may have violated the law “in areas related to the protection of minors, transparency of advertising, access to data for researchers, as well as risk management of addictive design and harmful content.”

After the formal opening of proceedings, the Commission will continue to collect evidence to take further enforcement action, it said.

Commissioner Thierry Breton told X on Monday: “Today we are launching an investigation into TikTok for a suspected breach of transparency and protection obligations to minors,” accusing the Chinese app of addictive design, among other things.

Breton added that the commission is enforcing the law to make the internet safer for minors.

However, the Chinese platform has declared that it has complied with the requirements of the new law, having adopted policies that enhance transparency in the European Economic Area.